Why seaweed is a jack-of-all-trades in the fight against climate change

Seaweed offers multiple climate benefits, including storing more new carbon annually than mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes combined. It serves as a low-carbon food source that requires no land, freshwater, pesticides, or fertilizers, and can be used to create plastic alternatives. In regions like Maine, seaweed farming provides income diversification for fishers facing warming oceans and acts as a natural buffer against storm-driven coastal erosion. Additionally, seaweed helps reduce local ocean acidification and can lower carbon emissions when integrated into the diets of livestock such as pigs, fish, shrimp, and chickens.

• Seaweed contributes significantly to carbon sequestration, with global algae storing more new carbon annually than the combined totals of salt marshes, seagrasses, and mangroves.
• Seaweed farming is a low-carbon alternative to traditional agriculture because it eliminates the need for freshwater, land, fertilizers, and pesticides.
• In Maine, seaweed farming supports climate adaptation by providing winter income for fishers affected by the Gulf of Maine warming three times faster than the global ocean average, and by protecting infrastructure from storm erosion.
• Seaweed can mitigate environmental damage by providing a fossil-fuel-free alternative to plastics and by reducing local ocean acidification that otherwise dissolves the shells of marine wildlife like shrimp, crabs, and lobsters.
• Integrating seaweed into the diets of livestock, specifically pigs, fish, shrimp, and chickens, has been shown to reduce carbon emissions.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Why seaweed is a jack-of-all-trades in the fight against climate change. https://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/explainers/wildlife-climate-heroes/why-seaweed-is-a-jack-of-all-trades-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/

Chicago

WWF International. Why seaweed is a jack-of-all-trades in the fight against climate change. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/explainers/wildlife-climate-heroes/why-seaweed-is-a-jack-of-all-trades-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Why seaweed is a jack-of-all-trades in the fight against climate change |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/explainers/wildlife-climate-heroes/why-seaweed-is-a-jack-of-all-trades-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndwhy, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Why seaweed is a jack-of-all-trades in the fight against climate change}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/explainers/wildlife-climate-heroes/why-seaweed-is-a-jack-of-all-trades-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }